ON ST. ARNULPH, BISHOP OF GAP,
Between the year 1070 and 1079
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The place of his deposition, his cult, the time of his coming to the episcopate, his death, the Acts to be published.
Arnulph, bishop of Gap, confessor. (S.)
BY J. C.
Contrary to our custom I have prefixed no place from which St. Arnulph passed to the heavens; receive the reason. The Martyrology of Paris announces our Saint at this day thus: The place of his deposition At Rome at St. Prisca's, of St. Arnulph, from a monk of Vendôme bishop of Gap. Which, lest they be judged to signify anything else than the Saint's deposition there, are thus explained in the index: Arnulph, bishop of Gap, died at Rome at St. Prisca's. For that church, with a monastery in which twelve monks were to dwell, had been joined to the monastery of Vendôme, whose abbots, as Mabillon shows in his Annals at the year of Christ 1066, numbers 32 and 100, perpetually enjoyed the dignity of Cardinal and the title of St. Prisca. In that Roman monastery Alexander II had ordered St. Arnulph, a monk of Vendôme, to stay before he was promoted to the infulæ of Gap, and the martyrologist of Paris asserts that he afterwards died in it. But unless the sacred body of St. Arnulph was afterwards translated thence, about which I have found nothing anywhere, the Sainte-Marthe brothers oppose him, volume 3 of the Gallia Christiana, among the bishops of Gap, number 13, asserting that St. Arnulph was entombed in the church of St. John the Round, which Mabillon, agreeing with them, places at Gap.
[2] Denis de Sainte-Marthe, who enlarged the Gallia Christiana, of St. Arnulph seems to have doubted the assertion of the Sainte-Marthes, since in volume 1, column 460, recounting the prelates of Gap, he struck out those words, and reports only St. Arnulph's death at this day. Whence that doubt arose in him I do not know; if it did, I wonder that a man rich in domestic monuments did not investigate the matter further. Certainly whatever is adduced from elsewhere about the Saint's relics, and other things, are such that nothing can thence be certainly concluded for the present matter. And the Sainte-Marthes indeed report these things from the Proper of Gap, which from them passed to Mabillon and to Denis: The bishop who then presided, Armand by name, pious in life, a monk in habit, came devoutly with his clergy, and, applying himself to prayer,
ordered the stone of the tomb to be rolled away: which being reverently removed and a light brought into the monument, he found the body whole, with the garment uncorrupted. Then it seemed good to those standing by that, for the knowledge of the truth, an arm should be cut from the Saint's body, and, kept outside the tomb, should be preserved for the memory of posterity.
[3] seems to have been Gap. But from these it is not even clear what that church is where St. Arnulph's tomb was, whence Armand took away the arm that had been cut off. Perhaps the Proper of Gap indicates it elsewhere, which I do not have at hand. Although, as I conjecture, it would have profited me little; for the often-praised Sainte-Marthes thus begin the article on Armand: Armand is raised from a religious to the bishopric, who translated the sacred remains of the lord Arnulph his predecessor, as is a conjecture, into the pulpit of the church, on the 13th of June in the thirtieth year from the happy death of the holy Prelate. By which they not obscurely hint that all that is reported rests only on conjectures; and who shall say whether these themselves are probable enough? In this darkness, which learned men have not attempted to dispel, this one thing may be said: that St. Arnulph's body seems to have been first laid where the sacred arm was taken from the rest of the body, and to have been kept in that same place: for a translation must not be invented of which no trace anywhere exists. But now the Acts which I have in hand assert in number 14 that at that time St. Arnulph's prodigious arm was wont to be shown in the church of Gap: whence it may not incongruously be conjectured that the remaining remains of the Saint were also laid there. If besides you believe that St. Arnulph died in that place where you suspect he was buried, you will agree with the Sainte-Marthes. Certainly I have hitherto found nothing which favors the French martyrologist.
[4] He is venerated at Gap and at Vendôme More certain than these are the things which have to be said about St. Arnulph's cult. At this 19th day of September, on Mabillon's testimony in his preliminary Observations, his festival is celebrated in the church of Gap with a double rite. With like veneration the famous Benedictine monastery of Vendôme, which our Saint illustrated by the illustrious examples of his virtues, keeps his annual memory. The Breviary of the church of Fréjus, published in type in the year 1529, prescribes concerning our St. Arnulph on this day also six Lessons and a proper Collect. Those seem to be taken from our Acts; this is recited thus: O God, who hast adorned thy blessed Confessor Arnulph on earth with a praiseworthy life, and hast raised him on high in heaven with eternal glory, grant, we beseech thee, that by the support of his merits our life may be commended with thee. In some other sacred calendars also St. Arnulph is read inscribed on the 19th day of September. Ferrarius inserted him into his Catalogue of the Saints; Saussay and the other French martyrologists commonly mention him. A fuller elogium of St. Arnulph stands in Dorgain, Menard, and Bucelin, in whom he has a place among the Saints of their Order at this day.
[5] Moreover Vapincum, where St. Arnulph bore the sacred infulæ, he came to the bishopric is also called Vapingum, Vapicum, and Vapigum, and by the natives Gap, whence some Latin Writers have called it the city of Guapincum and of Gapum. It is a city of Dauphiné, set beside a small stream or brook which I find named the Bène in Blaeu. The territory of Gap is closed on the east by that of Embrun, and on the south is separated from Provence by the waters of the river Durance, with which about two miles below the brook that washes Gap is mingled. By reason of ecclesiastical jurisdiction it belongs to the province of Narbonensis Secunda and to the metropolis of Aix. Gap now for fully thirteen centuries numbers its own sacred prelates; whose series, however, is very uncertain: for St. Arnulph, of whom we treat, is reckoned by the Sainte-Marthes as thirteenth in order among the bishops of that city, but Denis in the enlarged Gallia Christiana places him eighteenth in the series. Nor is it more certain in what year our Saint came to that see, and was thence taken up to the heavens. There are those who think that St. Arnulph was given as bishop to the people of Gap in the year 1055, and laid down that dignity, either by death or at least by some other chance intervening, before the year 1060: others on the contrary judge that he did not sit at Gap before about the year 1064, and was translated to the heavens only about ten years later.
[6] The first opinion Denis de Sainte-Marthe follows, volume 1 of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, column 460, among the Bishops of Gap, about the year 1065, where he asserts that it is read in the Saint's Life that he was consecrated and sent to Gap by Victor II, who occupied the Roman chair from the year of Christ 1054 to 1057. But I do not know in what Life of St. Arnulph the most learned man read this. Certainly in the Acts, both ours and Mabillon's and others cited from elsewhere, there is nowhere any word of Victor, but everywhere in the plainest words, not once but several times, he is said to have been ordered by Alexander II to stay at Rome, and then to have been given as bishop to the church of Gap: which utterly overturn the foundation of that opinion, since Alexander II did not begin to rule the Church of Christ before the year of Christ 1061, before which therefore St. Arnulph did not sit at Gap, who is said to have been consecrated bishop by Alexander. These things are better reconciled with the chronology of the Sainte-Marthes and of Mabillon, who set the beginning of St. Arnulph's episcopate about the year 1065: for they rightly judge that at least a few years must be granted to St. Arnulph in which he stayed at Rome at St. Prisca's under the Pontificate of Alexander II, before he was promoted to the sacred infulæ.
[7] The same aforesaid Sainte-Marthes think that St. Arnulph sat at Gap about 10 years, and thence was translated to the heavens and died about the year of Christ 1074. Menard binds the Saint's death to the year 1070. Mabillon defines nothing and confesses that the year is uncertain. Denis de Sainte-Marthe, already often praised, contends that St. Arnulph's death must be fixed before the year 1060, unless perchance he laid down his staff before he departed from among the living. It is safest in this darkness to follow Mabillon, for nothing occurs from which the year of the Saint's death can be certainly determined; although it seems beyond doubt that it fell within that interval of time which I have prefixed to the Commentary. Certainly nothing forbids extending it as far as the year 1079, in which in a letter of Gregory VII Leodegar is found bishop of Gap, between whom and St. Arnulph no one is dug out as intermediate from sufficiently certain monuments. But Ripert, bishop of Gap, in the year of Christ 1060 gave to St. Victor of Marseilles the church of St. Peter of Rionia, and again in the year 1075 makes a donation to Bernard, abbot of St. Victor, in the castle which is called Traselens, for founding a monastery: thus Denis de Sainte-Marthe objects, volume 1, column 461, and brings back Ripert — whom he judges to have been expelled from his see by Hildebrand, legate of Victor II, on account of the stain of Simony — again into the series of bishops, and presents him as sitting again after our St. Arnulph in the year 1060.
[8] between the year 1070 and 1079. I answer: it may seem strange that those charters of Ripert do not appear among the documents of the church of Gap or of Marseilles; strange that no place is indicated where they can be read and examined. I have not found mention of them in Bouche's History, in Guesnay's Cassian Illustrated, in Martène's Most Ample Collection, volume 1, in Henri bishop of Marseilles, lately deceased with the grief of all good men, or in Mabillon's Annals, who nevertheless either treat expressly of matters regarding the monastery of St. Victor of Marseilles, or touch them in such a way as to cite, or even insert into their own Works, very many charters of donations and diplomas which about those times were granted to the aforesaid monastery. Although there is no need of great inquiry: for let us grant that the aforesaid charters are genuine; the first, which is read as given in the year 1060, will not stand in our way. For it is a mere conjecture of Denis that Ripert had already before been driven out by Hildebrand, who was afterwards Gregory VII, and did not stain the church of Gap with his crimes up to the year 1065. But if you suppose this also to be true, Ripert when expelled could have retained the title of bishop of Gap, if it is read ascribed to him in the aforesaid charters, and if he is not another different from him. And these things suffice, so that the second charter also, which is read as given by him in the year 1075, is not repugnant to my opinion.
[9] The Acts to be published were written by a biographer, probably long later. There now remain a very few things to be said about the Acts to be published and their author. The manuscript Acts which I have in hand were once sent to our elders, and bear this heading note: From a manuscript of Monsieur Du Chesne, cosmographer to the Most Christian King. With them what Mabillon published in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, century 6, part 2, from a manuscript of the monastery of the Holy Trinity, so agrees in all things that they scarcely differ in the very fewest words. The aforesaid editor confesses that the biographer's name and age were unknown to him, nor does anything occur to me from which either can be certainly dug out. I observe, however, that our anonymous biographer was not contemporary with St. Arnulph, as becomes manifest from what he narrates in number 14. In testimony of which crime, he says, a long time after, when the holy body was raised from the earth (if the discourse is of the first elevation, that happened in the thirtieth year after the Saint's death, after which time therefore these things were written), the holy arm was found whole with skin and flesh … in testimony against the violent striker, the mutilation of the arm standing out with purple blood, as if it had been done recently, which until now (whence not obscurely follows what I asserted: for the more you extend the particle until now, the further you will remove the biographer from St. Arnulph's times) has been shown to those wishing to see it in the church of Gap. Nay, what he then writes in number 17 and following seems to persuade that he wrote perhaps even some centuries after St. Arnulph's death: for long before him the people of Gap and of Vendôme had written the Acts of our Saint, among which was not the miracle which he narrates from a tradition or report, as it appears, not at all recent, and he subjoins: But the place where that miracle was wrought antiquity named Cappa. Scarcely indeed does the age of our great-grandfathers rightly come under the name of antiquity. And from these things let there be a judgment about the Acts which I shall subjoin.
[10] Moreover there occurs there mention of the prodigious Tear of Vendôme, The history of the Tear of Vendôme, about which at the beginning of this century Jean-Baptiste Thiers, the well-known critic, stirred up a sharp contention. Now they relate that this tear of Christ, when the Savior wept at the corpse of Lazarus who was to be raised, was received by an angel in a flask and given to Mary, the sister of Lazarus. How it came thence to Vendôme, those who defend it vary. Most will have it that the prodigious drop was carried by St. Mary Magdalene herself into the Gauls, given to St. Maximin, the first bishop of Aix, and from his death preserved in that church until the times of Constantine, in whose reign it was carried back to Constantinople, and there kept until about the year 1042; for then they record that it was given by the emperor Michael the Paphlagonian to Geoffrey Martel,
founder of the monastery of Vendôme, when he was sent to him by Henry I king of France with a band of soldiers as a help against the Saracens. But there are those who say that Thiers so demonstrated the absurdities of this fiction that Mabillon judged that its defence could not safely be undertaken. He nevertheless defends the cause of the people of Vendôme, though in such a way as rather to overturn Thiers's too rigid rules for discerning true relics than to prove the matter itself, or to undertake to prove it, in a letter given to the most illustrious bishop of Blois, which stands among his posthumous Works, volume 2, page 361, and there he thus reports the history of the famous tear. There are golden cases in which the sacred treasure is kept, marked with various inscriptions. There is another ancient arched piece of work, beneath which the little cases are shut up, wrought with various figures. Both are exhibited engraved in copper in volume 4 of the Benedictine Annals, page 535 and following. And from these he conjectures: 1, that the holy tear was first received from Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and afterwards came to some patriarch of Constantinople or of Jerusalem. 2, That some emperor or other gave it to certain knights who had deserved excellently well of him, and that by them it was carried to Freising. 3, That Nitker or Nitkarius, bishop of that city, offered the sacred treasure to a certain Henry, perhaps the first of that name king of France, or Henry III, afterwards emperor. 4, That from one or the other it passed to Geoffrey or to his wife Agnes, and from these to the people of Vendôme.
[11] To these and other proofs, which, drawn from inscriptions, he calls in the aforesaid letter standing proofs, attacked by Thiers and defended by Mabillon. he there adds literary ones. Namely the charters of John Crassus and of count Burchard, framed at the end of the twelfth century, then anathemas and things like these, from which it may be established that from that time the holy tear was religiously venerated at Vendôme: and finally he subjoins this very testimony of our anonymous author. To these Thiers so replied, a letter being likewise given to the same prelate of Blois, that the aforesaid Mabillon, who before had not ineptly said that not everything is to be rejected on account of some historical errors, and had applied to the prodigious tear what Innocent III had once said, book 4 On the Mystery of the Mass, chapter 30, of the foreskin of Jesus Christ — It is better to commit the whole to God than rashly to define anything else — afterwards in the Annals, in the place cited, concluded the whole matter in these words most worthy of a learned and candid man: If these things do not sufficiently prove the truth of Christ's tear, at least they show its antiquity, and the ancient possession of it by our people of Vendôme asserted from the origin of the monastery (in the year 1032), and their good faith (which Thiers had most basely attacked). Which is indeed most true. And let these things, briefly said as the matter arose, suffice here. He who desires more, let him consult the aforesaid writers.
THE LIFE
By an anonymous author,
From a manuscript of Monsieur André du Chesne, cosmographer to the Most Christian King, with which a manuscript of the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Vendôme, printed by Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, century 6, part 2, agrees almost word for word.
Arnulph, bishop of Gap, confessor. (S.)
BHL Number: 0712
By an anonymous author.
CHAPTER I.
The birth of St. Arnulph, his monastic life and illustrious virtues.
[ ] Proem. As a fruitful vineyard nourishes and sends forth fruit-bearing buds, and rich vines break forth into shoots, so the grace of sacred Religion and of the monastic order nourishes industrious and magnificent men, and receives nurslings of holy obedience, humble sanctity, and white chastity, to be nourished with divine teachings. Of this vineyard, that is, of this Religion and sacred Order, there shone forth as a chief and excellent inhabitant that most illustrious father and leader of monks, Benedict in merits and in name, who after him taught blessed men by his rules to blunt the spirits of skill and always to subdue their necks to the yoke of the Lord. And that Benedict, both by himself and through his disciples, by the help of divine grace, had built various monasteries through the regions of the world; and, his followers rightly imitating the footsteps of their father, religious men — though not in habit, yet in mind — beholding the sacred manner of life of the monks, most devoutly bestowed, in honor of the aforesaid holy Benedict, for the building of monasteries, of the goods which God had deigned to confer upon them, that they might deserve to be made partakers of their merits and prayers.
[2] of the monastery of Vendôme, Of this vineyard, namely of the extension of this religious Order, God had foretold through the Prophet: He stretched forth his shoots unto the sea, and his branches unto the river. Unto the river the Religion of blessed Benedict and of holy men stretched forth its branches, when by a divine miracle, under the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, the monastery of Vendôme was built by the river Loir a. And of this monastery, forewarned by a divine oracle, the founder was the as venerable as noble Geoffrey b, count of Anjou, with Agnes his wife, in the days of Clement c the Roman Pontiff; and they placed there venerable monks, to whom they also gave as father a religious man and venerable abbot, Oderic d, and the count enriched them with revenues sufficient for the sustenance and provision of the monastery. And Pope Alexander e adorned it with excellent privileges, but God with the gift of his holy tear f, through the ministry of the aforesaid venerable count, and gave to the abbot an outstanding son and father, who should be a glory and honor to the father, and should show a light to the brethren by the examples of his works. For this was blessed Arnulph, monk and nursling of Vendôme, but afterwards given by the grace of God as prelate to the church of Gap by the aforesaid Alexander, Roman Pontiff.
[3] This blessed Arnulph therefore, born at Vendôme of illustrious parents, born of illustrious birth, from his boyish years was handed over to be imbued with letters. And so he began to converse with the religious among the inhabitants of the monastery of the holy and undivided Trinity, not as the rest are wont, whom a lack of learning or of grace compels to run off to the streets, shows, or theatres, but he followed the fellowship of the good and simple, nor did any evil sign appear in the acts of his boyhood. For in his face, and also in his acts, a sign of his future character could be noted beforehand, according to that which the Wise Man says: A boy shall be known by his pursuits. And the abbot, seeing the venerable simplicity in the Boy, and beholding the maturity of manners in the mind of the tender Boy, kindly called him to himself and handed him the monastic tunic g, not moved by prayer, nor by price, nor by the address of the pleasant favor of friends or of magnates, but by the grace of God alone, which moved the abbot's ripe prudence and eminence of goodness.
[4] The Boy of good character and will is therefore led to the monastery; St. Arnulph becomes a nursling, where by various the fellowship of the cloister accompanies him with hope, not that he may rule but that he may serve, that he may fast, not that he may eat, not that he may go before, but that he may obey, not that he may be enriched, but that he may become poor. And as he rose to a greater age, so much the more he busied himself that his mind should always cleave to the summit of the virtues. Thus blessed Arnulph is snatched from the world, is planted in the monastery, is brought living into the fountain, that from the fountain he may be drawn living, and may rise up into a fountain, and increase the waters for other fountains and streams; that from a wild vine a cluster may be brought into a vineyard, from a desert a lily into a garden, that he may bear more fruit and breathe his fragrance further hence. This is he of whom it is written: The just shall flourish, planted in the house of the Lord; and again: The just shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall be multiplied like the cedar of Lebanon. Like the cedar of Lebanon he was multiplied, when in the monastery he shone before all the Brethren in knowledge and in the wisdom of God and in all virtues, and deserved to be promoted to the highest grade of the priesthood.
[5] When therefore blessed Arnulph had begun so to labor in the house of the Lord presently he shines that nothing of good character was lacking, for he was propitious with the dew of piety, vigorous in prudence, gracious in humility, glorious in chastity and modesty, girt with sobriety, quiet and peaceable, wakeful in prayers; he wasted his flesh with fastings, compelled his body to serve the spirit; first in obedience, calm in patience, conspicuous in all familiarity, he loved poverty, weighing honorableness in all things; he did nothing for the body's sake, in all things he labored for the salvation of his soul, he burned with the love of God, and with the fervor of charity loved the abbot and all the Brethren especially, wounding none, defaming none, disparaging none, but with the fear of God he was ready for the service of all.
[6] By such things, as we have said before, he deserved to please God and men, with the ornaments of virtues. according to that which is written: Beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction. God showed him such that the abbot prudently loved him as a Son, consulted him in all things, did nothing without him, always did everything with him, and no one was nearer to him. Not like flatterers, who, that they may be able to obtain the administrations of the monastery, strive to profit the abbot; but in all faithfulness he labored to profit the rest and the commonwealth of the monastery rather than himself. He did not busy himself to transgress the ordinance of the commands of our father holy Benedict, or to soften or lessen it for himself, but he even increased it. For he always feared that he could not labor enough for the salvation of his soul, according to that which is written in the Gospel: When you shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants.
[7] He sets out for Rome with abbot Oderic At that time the venerable abbot Oderic went to Rome on business h of the monastery, that he might have a conference with Pope Alexander; for that same Alexander had much care of the said monastery, because it had been built in his days by a divine miracle, so that he especially loved the abbot and the monks. And the abbot took with him blessed Arnulph, deservedly loved by him more than the rest. But when they were present and frequented the Pope's company, Pope Alexander saw blessed Arnulph elegant and calm, and a religious man of good conversation, and began to love him in his heart. Since it was an honorable love, he was unwilling to conceal it longer, but kindly disclosed it to the abbot. He asked therefore that blessed Arnulph might stay near his own dwelling, that he might the more often enjoy the sight of the holy Man and his welcome and also useful conversation. For there is near enough to the church of the blessed Peter and Paul a church i dedicated in honor of God and of the blessed Prisca, virgin and martyr, on the Aventine hill, which had been given to the monastery of the holy and undivided Trinity. In this church Pope Alexander asked that blessed Arnulph the monk might stay, to whose petitions the abbot humbly obeyed.
[8] and there stays by the command of Alexander II. Blessed Arnulph therefore remained at Rome in the aforesaid church near the dwelling of Alexander, the Roman Pontiff. For the said Pontiff rejoiced in his nearness and fellowship, and the more the Blessed one frequented his company, the more and the more ardently the Pope loved holy Arnulph. O how lovable and venerable is that love which the working of chastity alone procures, and not loftiness of lineage, nor the deceitfulness of riches, nor prodigality of gifts or banquets, but the incomparable goodness of charity alone. But this blessed Arnulph was not sprung from the race of kings or of princes k,
nor pompous with an affluence of riches, but was glorious by the grace of God alone. For he was poor and moderate, covered with cheap garments, as befits a monk: so much the more did the religious Pontiff love the religious Monk, whom he beheld the humbler in spirit and the meaner in habit. He rejoiced in his welcome and lovable conversation, he enjoyed his holy and useful counsel. He called the word of his counsel an authority with himself, chiefly in those things which pertain to God and to the salvation of souls. Not on account of the service of so great a man as the supreme Pontiff did he change his own holy purpose, but more and more he kept himself deep-rooted in humility, conspicuous in poverty, adorned with the flowers of chastity; he desired nothing earthly, nothing carnal, but panted with all his strength for the heavenly fatherland.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
St. Arnulph, promoted to the episcopal see, defends the rights of the Church, and, famous for miracles, dies.
[ ] He is set over the church of Gap When therefore Alexander the Second of blessed memory was discharging the Apostolic office, and the church of Gap, having been found by the Simoniacal enthronement of a certain man a, long since worn down by his greed, lacked the help of pastoral care, the counsel of the whole people having been taken, the clergy of the aforesaid church came to the presence of the aforementioned Pope, and asked with prayers not unheard that he would deign to have mercy on their laboring basilica. Willing to satisfy their just and honorable petitions, he looked about diligently in his mind for whom he might find to discharge such a priesthood. And he did not find in his conscience, by God's grace disposing it with him, anyone worthier than blessed Arnulph in honorableness, morals, and wisdom. Considering therefore that saying of the Gospel which is spoken by the mouth of Truth itself, No man lighteth a lamp and putteth it in a hidden place, but upon a candlestick, that they who are in the house may see the light, he gave blessed Arnulph to the people of Gap; for he was a lamp shining with good intention and with the light of good works, who should shine forth with the brightness of the words of his teaching and preaching.
[10] St. Arnulph, and with unconquered Of him again it is rightly said, Blessed is that servant whom the Lord hath appointed over his family. The people of Gap therefore received blessed Arnulph as bishop, rejoicing and praising the Lord, by whose grace they deserved to have such a patron. And blessed Arnulph himself took up the burden of the pontificate, not seeking the height of honor, not desiring a heap of riches, not intending carnally to bestow the goods or prebends of the church on his own kinsfolk, not moved by vain glory, but moved by the grace of God alone and by obedience to the Roman Pontiff; not that he might go before, but that he might obey; not that he might rule, but that he might serve. He took up a burden, not an honor, not rest but labor, according to the precept of the Apostle who says: He that desireth the episcopate desireth a good work — not that he may preside, but that he may profit.
[11] fortitude of soul defends the rights of the Church Therefore, raised to the pontifical chair, when he had received the dignity, he did not change the poverty of his mind, but simple and humble, merciful and lovable, striving to profit all, eager to attribute nothing to himself, but laboring in all things to acquire the grace of his Creator for the sheep. In every judgment of his he busies himself to love the right balance of justice, and does not fear men, but for justice's sake he endured many perils, many barkings of his assailants, and many labors. But when at that time they busied themselves to go against the ecclesiastical censures, he, a strong Athlete girt about with the breastplate of justice, not permitting the right and censure of the Church to be trodden under the feet of the wicked, girded with the sword of the Holy Spirit, manfully set against them the shield of his learning, not sluggish or slack. Among them was a certain malignant persecutor, holding cheap the keys of holy mother Church. When he had often laid the sentence of excommunication upon him, and he had despised both the holy Bishop and his sentence b, being seized by a base disease and by a sudden death, he is basely snatched to his end. So it was done by the hidden judgment of God, that presumption should no further move anyone to insult the sanctions, especially while blessed Arnulph held the governance of the pontifical chair.
[12] But that the sanctity of the blessed Pontiff, illumined by divine rays, might stand out more brightly, and with many the divine dispensation willed to adorn his Servant with manifold miracles. And so when on a certain day holy Arnulph was washing his hands, there came to him a certain blind man suppliantly asking that he would bestow on him the help of a blessing, namely that, by the aid of him who looses the fettered and enlightens the blind, he might rejoice to receive sight by his merits. Having heard the prayer of the blind man, the Saint from the water which he had taken in his hands poured with his fingers into his eyes, and straightway the blind man's vigor of sight breathed again by divine power. Seeing which, the clergy and people rejoicing rendered thanks to God, who through his Saint had enlightened a blind man. Meanwhile there was a nun defamed by many crimes, one indeed most wicked crime among the rest having been perpetrated; and, by the judgment of God alone, she was so seized by a demon and raging that she had of necessity to be bound with iron chains. Whom holy Arnulph beholding, a prayer having been poured out, by the sign of the Cross drove out the demon, loosed the nun, and, pardon having been obtained from God, restored her to health.
[13] When the holy Pontiff was consecrating a church, it happened miracles that a certain rash man climbed up on high, who, since he bore himself disorderly in climbing, fell with a heavy fall to the ground, and thus was grievously injured in his limbs and his whole body. Hearing which, blessed Arnulph ran up swiftly and, moved with pity, prayed the Lord for him that he would have mercy on the wretched man; and, the prayer being made, the wretched and broken man is straightway restored to health. But when certain enemies of the Church, nay of God, busied themselves to crush the censure of the Church, not having God before their eyes, and held cheap the keys of the most sacred mother Church, the Man of God manfully resisting, it happened that a certain rash son of iniquity, seduced by a demonic spirit, laid violent hands on the holy Father, and, seizing a sword, maimed his arm.
[14] In testimony of which crime, a long time after, famous when the holy body was raised from the earth c, the holy arm was found whole with skin and flesh, the hairs clinging to the skin as though it lived, and in testimony against the violent striker, the mutilation of the arm standing out with purple blood, as if it had been done recently; which until now has been shown to those wishing to see it in the church of Gap. On the night following the day on which the holy Pontiff was maimed in his arm, the impious striker was seized by a sudden death and handed over to the demons of gehenna. For, as the poet says, For God always avenges unjust angers: and, that the holy Man might know with what vengeance, or with what just judgment, God avenges his Pastor, he revealed to him in a vision the impious man condemned perpetually to the burning of gehenna.
[15] Worldly hiding-places being avoided, the enticements of the flesh overcome, he dies. the darkness of errors put to flight, and the snares of the ancient enemy driven away, when it pleased the divine dispensation, the day of the holy Pontiff came on which God required of him the talent handed to him, and kindly summoned to himself the good and faithful Servant. The venerable father and holy pontiff therefore rendered
Arnulph, rejoicing and trusting, his body to the earth d and his soul to the heavens, the angels joining her to themselves, where he received the prize of immortal life. At the tomb of his holy body the blind who came were enlightened; the deaf, the lame, the dumb, the lepers, and all the sick rejoiced that they were restored to health. The black disease is by the sole medicine of his merits rooted out and cured; and the dead too have been restored to life.
[16] By his cloak a boy drowned in the waters One of the miracles of this holy Pontiff, though it should have been placed first, we have — because it was necessary — transferred to the last place to be described, because we have by no means found it among the other miracles described by the people of Gap, whose pontiff he was and who knew him e. For the people of Vendôme wrote of his acts, yet even until now the fame of this miracle has been reported by no one: and it is pious to believe that so great a miracle happened to so many and so great merits. For the famous account of the miracle is such. When blessed Arnulph had taken up the governance of the see of the church of Gap from the Roman Pontiff, he came to Vendôme. For he was kindly and obedient and overflowing in bowels of charity, so that he might receive from the abbot both a blessing and leave, and might obtain from his Brethren the kiss of love and charity, and might commend himself to their prayers.
[17] is recalled to life. When therefore he had come to the entrance of the stronghold of Vendôme, he saw beside the bank of the river Loir a certain boy naked and dead, who by a chance mishap, while he was plunging his body in the water in play, had been drowned, and appeared dead to all who beheld him. Seeing which, the loving and merciful Man, moved in his bowels of pity and having compassion, spread over the naked corpse a certain precious cloak which he had, and with it covered the naked corpse. Which being done, God, willing to show a sure sign of his love to the holy Man for so great a work of charity, restored the soul to the dead body, and in the sight of all the boy appeared alive. And the Saint offered the cloak to the monastery of the holy Trinity, and from it a cope f was made. But the place where that miracle was wrought antiquity named Cappa in memory of it, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through all the ages of ages. Amen.